Recipes
It's been hot during the day, but the evenings have been cool, which I love. I love fall as I've said before, and I love the cooler weather that calls for light fleece sweaters, a warm cup of tea, and a hot bowl of soup. Fall and winter are my favorite times of year to cook. When we are out in the bush logging it makes the work a lot easier knowing something delicious and warm is waiting for me at home!
We've been busy working on finishing the electrical work for the barn, and the waterline. Most of the electrical work was left to us but Kevin has done this stuff a million times before... so it's just a matter of getting it done.
Last night we had Broccoli soup - I just tossed it together and it turned out really good. I made homemade crescent rolls to go with it and both of us ate way too much. The crescent rolls are just a simple biscuit recipe. I mixed the dough in my bread machine, then rolled it out and made all the crescents. Let the crescents rise for a couple hours and then cooked them up. Nothing better than fresh bread or biscuits. I think these are Kevin's favorite thing ever.
For the soup, I took a couple tablespoons of butter and melted that in a big soup pot. I threw in 1 leek I had sliced up and washed well, using the white and pale green parts. I let that wilt for about 15 minutes. Then I added 4 small potatoes diced, and a head of broccoli. I added enough water to cover and two organic vegetable stock cubes (great when you are in a hurry!) and let that cook for about 1 hour or more, until everything was very tender. Then I used my hand blender to blend it up leaving it a little chunky. I added about a cup of milk, although I didn't measure, it may have been a tad more. I added a little bit of cheese, not a lot, about 1/2 cup of cheddar and salt and pepper to taste. I let that cook up for a little bit (while I went outside and put the animals to bed for the night.) Then I just added a couple tablespoons of milk which I mixed up with a cup of water so there were no chunks. This thickens it - you do not need to do that if you don't want a thicker soup, it's fine as is, but I wanted to dunk biscuits into it so I wanted it a little thicker. It was really comforting and we have leftovers for today.
This morning I did up a really quick, yummy, strawberry coffee cake. This recipe is worth sharing:
Ingredients:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
.
Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
Preparation:Sift together the 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, egg, and melted butter; beat 2 minutes. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square baking pan. Top with sliced strawberries. Combine 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb topping over the strawberries. Bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes.
Here is how it turned out:
Good way to start the morning with your coffee I think!
We've been busy working on finishing the electrical work for the barn, and the waterline. Most of the electrical work was left to us but Kevin has done this stuff a million times before... so it's just a matter of getting it done.
Last night we had Broccoli soup - I just tossed it together and it turned out really good. I made homemade crescent rolls to go with it and both of us ate way too much. The crescent rolls are just a simple biscuit recipe. I mixed the dough in my bread machine, then rolled it out and made all the crescents. Let the crescents rise for a couple hours and then cooked them up. Nothing better than fresh bread or biscuits. I think these are Kevin's favorite thing ever.
For the soup, I took a couple tablespoons of butter and melted that in a big soup pot. I threw in 1 leek I had sliced up and washed well, using the white and pale green parts. I let that wilt for about 15 minutes. Then I added 4 small potatoes diced, and a head of broccoli. I added enough water to cover and two organic vegetable stock cubes (great when you are in a hurry!) and let that cook for about 1 hour or more, until everything was very tender. Then I used my hand blender to blend it up leaving it a little chunky. I added about a cup of milk, although I didn't measure, it may have been a tad more. I added a little bit of cheese, not a lot, about 1/2 cup of cheddar and salt and pepper to taste. I let that cook up for a little bit (while I went outside and put the animals to bed for the night.) Then I just added a couple tablespoons of milk which I mixed up with a cup of water so there were no chunks. This thickens it - you do not need to do that if you don't want a thicker soup, it's fine as is, but I wanted to dunk biscuits into it so I wanted it a little thicker. It was really comforting and we have leftovers for today.
This morning I did up a really quick, yummy, strawberry coffee cake. This recipe is worth sharing:
Ingredients:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
.
Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
Preparation:Sift together the 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, egg, and melted butter; beat 2 minutes. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square baking pan. Top with sliced strawberries. Combine 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb topping over the strawberries. Bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes.
Here is how it turned out:
Good way to start the morning with your coffee I think!
